On April 29, the 2026 ASUCI elections results were announced at the Student Center Terrace. Referendum initiative coordinators and supporters of the referendums received extremely disappointing and heartbreaking news due to an incorrect calculation on the elections website, the voting quorum shown on April 17 was faulty. The actual voting quorum was under 20%, meaning that no referendums were passed.
On April 17, New University staff, the Basic Needs Center and several other individuals spent the entire day approaching every single student on campus encouraging them to vote. We circled around Ring Road several times and did everything we could to make students aware of what was at stake in this year’s ASUCI elections.
The DREAM Center was going to lose funding for fellowships that support undocumented students. The Basic Needs Center was going to lose a tremendous amount of money for basic necessities for students. The Cultural Identity Center was going to lose funding for several organizations on campus that support students with diverse backgrounds. New University was going to lose print and support for our staff who work hard with zero pay to inform the UCI community of vital stories. Every day of campaign week, our staff were making sure that students were voting so election results would reach a 20% quorum.
At the end of the two week voting period, when the elections website reflected a 20% quorum vote, there was roughly an hour left before the ballots were closed. If we had known that only 17% of the student body had voted in the ASUCI election, we would have continued to do absolutely everything in our power to ensure that quorum would have been reached and ensure that all the referendums would have at least a chance to pass.
And that is the biggest disappointment to us all. On a campus that is so difficult to get students to participate in student government affairs, within a school that creates so many barriers for referendums and candidates to effectively campaign, we were willing to put in the work necessary to reach quorum no matter what. Now, despite our efforts, none of the organizations that would have benefitted from the referendums will have the necessary funding to continue their important work on campus — including New University.
But this isn’t the end.
New University wants to express extreme gratitude for everyone who participated in this year’s ASUCI elections. From the ASUCI Elections Commission to the Basic Needs Center, just because the voting quorum was not reached, does not mean our efforts were wasted. This is a reflection of how UCI needs to do more for the essential organizations here on campus. We shouldn’t have to negotiate with the student body to vote for resources that should be a given and not a ballot item that they have to consider within their tuition.
To New University readers and supporters, especially those who voted for the Support Student Journalism Student Fee Referendum, we will always exist as a campus newspaper. Despite not being able to do print anymore, we will continue to share honest, empathetic and ethical stories from our staff of unpaid but dedicated, hard-working student journalists and storytellers.
If you want to support New University directly, donations can be made on our website.
Editor’s note: Editorials should not be interpreted to reflect the opinion, thoughts or beliefs of any individual New University editor, staff member or affiliate.
